Columbella Galaxias, Reeve.

Reeve, Conch. Icon., xi., 1859, Columbella, pl. xxxv., sp. 229.

A variable species, plentiful at Funafuti, as also throughout Polynesia, is provisionally so named. This name, though in current use, is probably invalid. Tryon states that the prior name of G. sagitta, Gaskoin, belongs here, although Reeve's figure and the original locality are both at variance with the shell in question. This statement has neither been accepted nor denied by London writers; the latest reference to the species by Melvill and Standen ignores it. We owe the confusion in which this species is involved to the past generation of London Conchologists, and we expect reparation from the present. A perusal of literature suggests that an extensive synonomy will result from a revision of the nomenclature of this species. Columbella mind-orensis, Reeve, and G. articulala, Souverbie, are suggested as probable additions to the names reduced by Tryon.

Fig. 38.